Kate Jenkins, a Sexual-Harassment Reformer in Australia

The report, Respect@Work, was released in 2020, but it wasn’t until multiple accusations of rape and lewd acts were made this year in political circles in Canberra that Jenkins’s analysis gained traction. In February, Brittany Higgins, a former political staffer, appeared on TV to detail her alleged rape in Parliament House in 2019. Around the same time, the nation’s chief law officer was accused of a rape in 1988, a claim he denied. (A police investigation never got off the ground.) Soon after that allegation came reports that male government employees had shared images of vulgar acts in the Parliament building. By March rising anger about the incidents culminated in the country’s biggest public demonstrations in decades. Tens of thousands of people rallied to demand greater female representation in politics and serious action against discrimination and sexual violence.

Progress has been slow in adopting the recommendations, which are basic protections already on the books in many other countries. They include making people liable who aid or permit someone to sexually harass another person and making employers take a proactive approach to protecting employees.